


Quiet Comfort

by Quin



Category: The Shannara Chronicles (TV)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2017-12-21
Packaged: 2019-02-18 00:54:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13089033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quin/pseuds/Quin
Summary: “It’s not your fault, it’s not your fault,” Amberle repeated, while she tenderly wiped Ander’s forehead with a damp cloth.





	Quiet Comfort

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Othalla](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Othalla/gifts).



> This is a treat. Thank you to my betas.

It was still dark in Arbolon’s palace, but Amberle Elessedil knew her way around by heart. The nobles were all sound asleep after yesterday’s party, and even the servants had gone to bed after cleaning up. It was her time. Without hesitating, she walked down the corridor. Long ago she had memorised the patrol times and paths of the guards, so she could safely walk in the dark. Nobody would question her about what she was doing at this time of the day. After rounding a corner, Amberle finally arrived at her destination. Quietly, she snuck past the guard, pushed down the door handle, and disappeared into the large room beyond.

  
She was met with the smell of stale sweat, alcohol and fresh vomit. It was nothing that would repel her. Routinely, she went over to a small side table and lit up a candle. In the flickering light Amberle saw a pale, hollow face. Whimpering sounds accompanied the restless sleep of her uncle. Even though she had seen it a dozen times, it still made her heart heavy and sad.

  
“It’s not your fault, it’s not your fault,” Amberle repeated, while she tenderly wiped Ander’s forehead with a damp cloth. Carefully, as not to wake her uncle, she pulled the blanket down, bit by bit. Removing the stained clothes without disturbing Ander’s sleep was always the most difficult task. Amberle knew her uncle had nightmares about what had happened to her father. But she wasn’t sure what was better - the recurring bad dreams, or him seeing what she was doing. Amberle didn’t want Ander to think that she pitied him. Yes, she felt sorry for her uncle, but she loved him and wished for him to keep the rest of his dignity.

  
At last, she was able to get rid of the dirty shirt. Quickly, she replaced the blanket and murmured soothing words in Ander’s ear, a little lullaby he had sung when she had been a baby, as her grandfather had once told her in secret.

  
Then, Amberle placed the shirt in a corner where a servant would pick it up for washing. She collected the bottles of wine her uncle had emptied alone after the party had already been over. It was no use lecturing him on the abuse of alcohol. The pain over Aine’s death ran too deep. Amberle had just been a helpless child when her father died. She hadn’t had the words or the means to alter Ander’s belief that he was to blame, and now she feared that the wound was cut too deep to close. Taking care of him when Ander had drunk himself senseless again was the least Amberle could do for him.

  
Finally, Amberle pulled a little vial out of her bag. She removed its stopper and trickled the contents on Ander’s lips. It was an herbal remedy that would reduce any upcoming headache, lingering nausea, and stomach pain. In the past, Amberle had bought it from a healer in a close by village, but now she knew how to find the right plants and mix the potion by herself.

  
She wiped her uncle’s forehead for one last time, blew out the candle and left. She was already beyond tired. However, sleep would never come if she hadn’t looked after Ander.

  
*

  
It was two days later when Amberle noticed that she had lost her favourite pendant, the one she had inherited from her mother. Frantically, she and her handmaiden went to every corner of the palace, asking nobles, commons and servants alike, to no avail. Nobody had seen her pendant. Even when she set up a reward, the result was the same. Amberle was devastated. Whenever she had been down, the feeling of the filigree silver necklace with the small heart-shaped ruby against her skin had given her solace. Exhausted, she let herself fall down on her bed and started crying. Through the pendant, her mother, though dead and never really known to her, had always been at her side. It felt like she had been taken away from Amberle again.

  
She must have cried herself into sleep as it was already dark when a faint knock on her door woke her up.

  
“Please, whoever this is, I need to be alone.” Amberle was not yet ready to face anybody. The door opened nonetheless. Trying to pretend she had fallen asleep again, Amberle turned her head away. Or maybe she was just hoping that if she ignored her visitor, they would go away. Who would ignore a princess’ request for solitude, anyway?

  
She carefully listened, but she couldn’t hear anything. Then, the footsteps took up again and she felt somebody settling on her bed. Amberle jumped and rolled over, facing Ander wide-eyed. In the palm of her uncle was her mother’s pendant.

  
“I found this. I thought you might want to have it back.”

  
Amberle breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh thank you so much. I didn’t know where else to look. Where did you find it?” Just when she asked the question, Amberle realised that her uncle was unusually withdrawn.

  
“Oh,” she said and then nothing more. She had lost her mother’s heirloom the night she had tended to Ander. He knew. Amberle was uncertain what to say. Would an explanation help or make everything worse? She opened her mouth, but no sound escaped.

  
Ander pressed the necklace with the pendant into her hand. He got up. “Amberle,” he finally said. “You mustn’t do this.”

  
Amberle stood up, too, wanting to protest. Her uncle hushed her with a shake of his head. “But thank you for not judging me, though you have every right to it. You are the only one who has understood that I don’t need any words. I’m grateful.”

  
Ander was about to leave, then he suddenly changed his mind. He came over to Amberle and gave her a quick hug before finally walking out of the door.

  
Maybe this was a beginning after all, a beginning to mending what had broken her uncle.


End file.
